Tata Tea gives its flagship brand - Premium a new look

With the re-launch, Premium changes positioning and tells the story of 'Badi Patti/Choti Patti', as it also shifts focus to a younger consumer base.

In 1985, Tata Tea launched Premium with the promise of a cup of tea, which would provide 'Baganon ki taazgi' to the consumer. The communication for the brand at that time stated that Tata Tea used tea leaves picked from the company's own gardens, which were packed right there to seal in the freshness.

Now, after almost two decades, Tata Tea has revamped its flagship brand with an aim to make it more contemporary and more relevant to a new segment of target consumers, that is, the youth.

Speaking on the intent behind the re-launch, Sushant Dash, vice-president, marketing, Tata Global Beverages, says that there are two reasons behind the exercise. "First, the last two years have been difficult for the tea category, with tea prices in the auctions going up rapidly by up to 35-40 per cent. This, combined with inflation on sugar and milk, has resulted in a drop in consumption per household for the category as a whole. The category, which used to witness growth of 3-4 per cent couple of years back, grew by only 1 per cent last year; and Premium too felt the pressure. Also, for some time, the Premium brand has been riding on the message, 'Jaago Re'. Thus, to reinforce the message that Premium is still about quality to the consumer, the brand has been re-launched with a new message."

As part of the revamp, the new logo and the pack-face have been designed by Bengaluru-based branding and industrial design consultancy, Icarus Design. Explaining the key elements in the new look, George Mathew, director, Icarus Design, elaborates, "The re-launch includes a new brand logo and package, designed to create a stronger identity for Premium and make it younger. While the logo of Tata Tea remains same, a decision was made to change the font of Premium and also to increase its size. Second, the position of Tata Tea Premium was changed -- earlier, the name appeared at the top of the package; now, it has been shifted to the centre of the packet."

Mathew adds that a very bold decision was taken to transform the package colour into all-green from the earlier combination of red and green, in order to create a strong visual identity.

Moreover, to establish that Tata Tea Premium is a national brand, the word, 'Premium' appears in various Indian languages as a watermark. Finally, the leaf pack also communicates the benefit of a cup of tea through the messages, 'Tea Experts Ka Anokha Mishran' and 'Badi Patti/Choti Patti', as well as 'Jaago Re'.

Mathew adds that for the dust pack, the colour red has been used. The dust pack lays emphasis on the fact that Tata Tea Premium is a 'Rich Assam Blend', which has been created by tea experts.

While the design agency has given a fresh look to the brand; Lowe Lintas has worked on the positioning, which is about the benefits of 'Badi Patti aur Choti Patti'.

Amer Jaleel, national creative director, Lowe Lintas, says that while creating the positioning, it was important to talk about the brand essence. "This is where the story about big leaves and small leaves was incorporated."

The TVC, created by Lowe, shows a married lady, who wants to start a beauty parlour. She has applied for the license and is speaking to a government official for clearance. While the government official continuously asks for a bribe, the lady asks whether she should give big "leaves", or small, or a mix of both. Finally, she takes the packet of Tata Tea Premium and hands it over to the official.

Jaleel adds, "Moreover, 'Jaago Re' is now synonymous with the brand Tata. The idea was to take the theme forward with newly launched Premium. Thus, we created the commercial, which also talks about the positioning of the brand, and is part of 'Jaago Re'."

Tata Tea plans to promote the new look of Premium through various television commercials and on-ground activities for the next three months. It will not be promoting 'Jaago Re' for a while, in a bid to create awareness about the new look.

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